Coaching is a Balance Between Fun and Being Competitive

I was cleaning up my Stickies on my Mac today and came across the note I had written two years ago to prepare my Minor Atom AA team for the semi-final round of playoffs.  Ironic and a coincidence that on this day Team Canada and Russia are in a semi-final game of the World Juniors.


I always told the players that they don't play for me, they play for each other.  At this point in the season, it was a time for winning in order to move onto the finals.  I wanted to be careful that I didn't take the fun out of the experience either.


So here's what I wrote:

Thinks we do well:

- positioning

- forechecking

- backchecking

- face-offs

- penalty kills

- passing; shooting

- goaltending

We need three wins to move onto the finals.

If we lose, nobody is going to remember who scored or what big save was made; nobody will care; they will just remember that we lost.  You will feel sad, upset, angry and you will wish you had tried harder.

If we win, nobody may remember who scored or how many shots you stopped; they will remember how hard the team worked together.  You will feel happy and good about yourself and the effort that you put into the game.

Do it for your team;

- Heart (winning is the only thing that matters;  you will do anything to help your team (block shots, take a slash; get knocked down;  USA didn't play final game hoping for a silver medal)

- Mind (Think about winning the series; think about what to do with the puck before you get to it or it gets to you; think about your team mates that are on the ice with you)

- Muscle (Race for the puck; battle for the puck; keep the puck; forecheck hard; backcheck harder; game speed; short shifts)

Do it for your team:

Not going to make excuses for losing games.  We pull goalies for not stopping pucks; think about if we pulled you for not handling a pass or not making a pass or shooting on net when you had the chance.  We will coach to win.

Do it for your team:

You may never get another chance to play in a semi-final play-off series ever in rep.  Use this opportunity to win and move onto the finals.

Do it for your team:

Who will win this series?  The team that plays to win.  Don't have a fear of losing, have a fear of not trying hard enough.

(My reference to USA is to both Team USA hockey teams in the 2010 Winter Olympics.)

Well for a bunch of 10 years olds, they won the series and made it to the Finals.  I can't say that my pre-series talk had everything to do with it.  Having a great coaching staff and players who discovered their ability as a team really helped too.